1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for grinding feedstock, which may be of infinite length, to precise dimensions of circular cross section. More particularly, the system automatically produces a ground product with a precise cross-sectional diameter that may be fixed, that gradually changes along the length of the feedstock, and/or that abruptly changes in a step-like manner along the length of the feedstock.
2. Related Art
Conventional grinders for removing the outer surface of feedstock to produce a ground article of circular cross section include a centered or “OD” (outside diameter) grinder and a centerless grinder.
A sectional view of a conventional OD grinder 2 is schematically shown in FIG. 1. Typically, a piece of feedstock 4 is held by collets 6a, 6b of the grinder 2. The collets 6a, 6b are connected to a motor system (not shown), which provides a rotational driving force to rotate the collets 6a, 6b and the piece of feedstock 4 about a longitudinal axis 1, as depicted by the curved arrows in FIG. 1. In general, the rotational axis of the collets 6a, 6b and the longitudinal axis 1 are coincident. The motor system also provides a translational driving force to move the collets 6a, 6b and the piece of feedstock 4 along the longitudinal axis 1, as depicted by the double-headed horizontal arrow in FIG. 1.
A support portion 10 of the grinder 2, for supporting the piece of feedstock 4, includes a bushing 18 for bracing the piece of feedstock 4 to prevent it from losing its rigidity during grinding. During grinding, a grinding wheel 16 is positioned in a gap 14, between the bushing 18 and the collet 6b, to contact the piece of feedstock 4. The piece of feedstock 4 is ground to a cross-sectional diameter determined by the relative positions of the grinding wheel and the longitudinal axis 1.
One problem with conventional OD grinders is that they cannot efficiently grind wires of small diameter. In particular, a grinding wheel with a wide grinding-surface width cannot be used to grind fine wires, because the wide surface causes distortion (bending) of the wires during grinding. Therefore, only narrow grinding wheels can be used, which cannot remove large amounts of material quickly, thus making the process of grinding fine wires slow and inefficient.
Further, conventional OD grinders generally cannot continuously grind a profile over an arbitrarily long length of feedstock, because the lateral travel distance of the collets 6a, 6b holding the piece of feedstock 4 is limited.
FIGS. 2A-2C schematically show a perspective view, a front view, and a top view, respectively, of a conventional centerless grinder 22. The centerless grinder 22 grinds the outer surface of feedstock 24 by guiding the feedstock 24 between two grinding wheels: a work wheel 26 and a regulating wheel 28, as shown in FIG. 2A. A support piece 8 supports the feedstock 24 during grinding, as shown in FIG. 2B. The grinding wheels rotate in the same direction at different speeds, and have respective peripheral portions that face each other, as shown in FIG. 2C. The diameter of the ground product is controlled by controlling a gap separating the two peripheral portions. One of the grinding wheels, typically the regulating wheel 28, is movable and is used to vary the diameter of the feedstock 24 during grinding. By tilting the rotational axis of one grinding wheel relative to the other grinding wheel, the feedstock 24 is caused to move forward through the grinder 22.
The feed rate, or the rate at which the feedstock 24 advances through the grinder 22, is affected by several factors, including temperature, tilt angle, rotation speed of the regulating wheel 28, slippage (if any) between the regulating wheel 28 and the feedstock 24, feedstock material and its cross-sectional area, and rotational speed of the regulating wheel 28. Because of the numerous factors, the feed rate and, thus, the longitudinal position of the feedstock 24, can be difficult to accurately control and, therefore, such difficulty can detrimentally affect the dimensional accuracy of the ground product. For example, if precise tapers are desired, such that a length of feedstock linearly decreases in diameter, variations in the feed rate and longitudinal position can detrimentally affect the linearity of the tapered profile, the length of the taper, as well as the length of barrel sections before and after the taper.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,342 ('342) describes a centerless grinder in which the feed rate is controlled by using a series of photoelectric sensors to detect the movement of the trailing edge of a piece of feedstock as it is being ground. Each sensor is positioned along a line parallel to the line of travel of the feedstock, and the sensors are spaced apart at known distances. As the trailing edge goes past a sensor, that sensor produces a signal that is sent to a microprocessor. The microprocessor calculates the feed rate based on the known distance between each sensor and the times at which the trailing edge passes each sensor. For example, if the trailing edge passes sensor 1 at time t1 and passes sensor 2 at time t2, and sensor 1 and sensor 2 are located a distance d apart, then the feed rate during interval 1 (between sensor 1 and sensor 2) is d/(t2−t1). Similarly, if the trailing edge passes sensor 3 at time t3, the feed rate during interval 2 (between sensor 2 and sensor 3) is d/(t3−t2). The feed rates are calculated by the microprocessor, and a comparison of the feed rates during interval 1 and interval 2 provides a value that is used by the microprocessor to control, for example, the position of the regulating wheel to thereby control the diameter of the feedstock along its length during grinding.
The prior art also proposes the use of a slidable sensor assembly for precision grinding of long pieces of feedstock. The sensor assembly is slidable and is set in a position corresponding to the trailing edge of the piece of feedstock. Such an arrangement enables the precision grinding of a section of the piece of feedstock, but is not conducive to precision grinding an arbitrarily long piece of feedstock along its entire length. This is because sensors are not provided along the entire travel length of the piece of feedstock but instead are provided only on the sensor assembly, which limits the precision grinding to be performed only on a section corresponding to the length of the sensor assembly.
One drawback of the conventional centerless grinders described above is that the length and/or diameter of the ground product can be accurately controlled only where the trailing edge of the feedstock falls within the sensing range. Therefore, in order to precisely grind a piece of feedstock of arbitrarily long length to have a desired profile along its entire length, an elongated sensor or a sufficiently long line of sensors is required. Such an arrangement requires not only a large manufacturing area to house the grinder and its associated long sensing line, but also entails the costs of deploying the additional sensing capabilities.
Another drawback of the conventional centerless grinders described above is that they cannot accurately control the longitudinal position of a piece of feedstock. Although the sensors provide a value for the feed rate or position of the feedstock as its trailing edge passes from sensor to sensor, the value is merely and estimate. This is because the feed rate or position of a previous section (a section that has already been ground) is used to predict the feed rate or position of the next section to be ground. Thus, there is an inherent lag in the reaction time of such conventional centerless grinders.
Yet another drawback of conventional centerless grinders is the accuracy of the longitudinal position of the feedstock is controllable to, at best, approximately ±0.030 inch. Therefore, grinding of fine features with dimensional tolerances smaller than about ±0.030 inch is precluded with such conventional grinders.
None of the above-described conventional grinders allows for precision grinding of an arbitrarily long length of feedstock over its entire length. Further, grinding of a continuous spool of feedstock is not possible with a conventional centerless grinder, because there is no trailing edge to detect, and is also not possible with a conventional OD grinder, because of the limited travel distance of the collets. Furthermore, conventional grinders provide only modest control over the longitudinal position of the feedstock, thus limiting their use to grinding articles with large to moderate dimensional tolerances.